22. Public Petitions

All authorities agree that the right of
petitioning parliament for redress of grievances is acknowledged as a
fundamental principle of the constitution. It has been uninterruptedly exercised
from very early times and has had a profound effect in determining the main
forms of parliamentary procedure.

Speaker Gaspard Fauteux(Debates, June 18, 1947, pp. 4278-9)

S

imply defined, a petition is a formal
request to an authority for redress of a grievance. Public petitions, addressed
to the House of Commons and presented to the House by its Members, constitute
one of the most direct means of communication between the people and Parliament.
Certainly, it is among the most ancient; the act of petitioning has been
described as “the oldest of Parliamentary forms, the fertile seed of all
proceedings of the House of
Commons”. [1]

Petitions today may be described as a
vehicle for political input, a way of attempting to influence policy-making and
legislation and also, judging by their continued popularity, a valued means of
bringing public concerns to the attention of Parliament. Petitions also have
their place among the tools which Members and Ministers can use to formulate
public policy and to carry out their representative duties. In the early 1980s,
after many years during which the presentation of petitions appeared to have
fallen out of favour, a resurgence of interest occurred which continues without
abatement. [2]
This is
illustrated by Figure 22.1, which indicates the number of petitions presented
during each session from the Seventh Session of the Twelfth Parliament (1917) to
the Second Session of the Thirty-Fifth Parliament (1997).

Figure 22.1 – Petitions Presented to the House of Commons Since 1917

Parl. Sess. (year)

Petitions

Parl. Sess. (year)

Petitions

Parl. Sess. (year)

Petitions

12.7 (1917)

2 788

18.1 (1936)

1

26.3 (1965)

3

13.1 (1918)

2

18.2 (1937)

3

28.2 (1969-70)

2

13.2 (1919)

364

18.3 (1938)

8

28.3 (1970-72)

2

13.3 (1919)

1

18.4 (1939)

10

28.4 (1972)

4

13.4 (1920)

6

18.5 (1939)

10

29.1 (1973-74)

4

13.5 (1921)

11

19.1 (1940)

2

29.2 (1974)

1

14.2 (1923)

3

19.2 (1940-42)

1

30.1 (1974-76)

21

14.3 (1924)

4

19.3 (1942-43)

1

30.2 (1976-77)

12

14.4 (1925)

5

19.5 (1944-45)

22

30.3 (1977-78)

7

15.1 (1926)

6

20.2 (1946)

2

30.4 (1978-79)

2

16.1 (1926-27)

32

20.3 (1947)

8

31.1 (1979)

3

16.2 (1928)

6

20.4 (1947-48)

1

32.2 (1983-84)

185

16.3 (1929)

584

20.5 (1949)

3

33.1 (1984-86)

3 899

16.4 (1930)

178

21.7 (1952-53)

3

33.2 (1986-88)

5 575

17.2 (1931)

5

22.2 (1955)

1

34.1 (1988-89)

16

17.3 (1932)

3

22.5 (1957)

1

34.2 (1989-91)

8 928

17.4 (1932-33)

9

25.1 (1962-63)

1

34.3 (1991-93)

5 282

17.5 (1934)

12

26.1 (1963)

1

35.1 (1994-96)

4 271

17.6 (1935)

3

26.2 (1964-65)

2

35.2 (1996-97)

2 361

This chapter will concern itself with
public petitions, the current rules regarding their form, content and
presentation, government responses to petitions, and the role and
responsibilities of the Clerk of Petitions. Petitions for private bills are
dealt with in Chapter 23, “Private Bills Practice”.